Castleisland Chamber Alliance Chairman Michael John Kearney undertook a forensic pulse-taking exercise of the businesses in the locality recently and concluded with document titled ‘An Early Summer Update’ which he committed to ink for your perusal.
Putting his neck on the line in the line of weather forecasting, Mr. Kearney hoped that the present couple of days, amid the unpredictability, are signs of better things to come. The following is his report:
“As we head well into the second half of 2024, the weather is finally what one would expect for this time of the year – these last few days hopefully are a sign of a stretch of better weather to come.
Despite the weather, or because of the poor weather our visitor numbers to the town in June/July were well on a par with previous years, with a good mix of foreign and Irish visitors to be seen on the street and visiting the tourist attractions in the Castleisland District like: Crag Cave; the Desmond Castle; the Con Houlihan Trail; the Castleisland District Heritage Society; the new Sliabh Luachra, wooden crafted, monument; Glenageenty Walks; the Glounsharoon Viewing Platform and the Knocknagoshel Shooting Range – all experienced higher numbers.
The night-time attraction of Sliabh Luachra Music was important over the period manifested in regular music sessions in pubs, rambling houses, cultural centres and of course in festivals such as the World Fiddle Day in Scartaglen, and the Con Curtin in Brosna and the Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival in Castleisland.
And, as of the end of July we can add the Castleisland Community Museum to the offering.
The new services in the town – the primary care centre, the Willow Brook Care Home and the NCT centre have also brought added footfall to the street.
Padre Pio Devotions Back on September 10th
As has the local parish church where there is a steady stream visiting the Padre Pio shrine each day and for the regular monthly devotions – which will resume next month on Tuesday, September 10th at 7.30pm and on the second Tuesday of each month thereafter.
And the very busy Riocht Athletic Track has catered for up to 25,000 participants plus their followers in the May/June period and no doubt there has been a spill over on to the street.
Our hospitality businesses, as a result – accommodation providers, pubs, restaurants, delicatessens, coffee shops, fast food and outdoor catering – have had a strong season thus far and are looking forward to an even better August, September and October as we have several fabulous events on the horizon.
Excitement Around Kerry Ladies
Kerry Ladies have again created a lot of excitement and good feeling in the community, and we hope to be welcoming them back as victors on what will be third time lucky for them! The town is certainly very well decorated and fully behind them.
On the GAA front: Beaufort will be the visitors to Moanmore in early August for the last round of the group stage of the intermediate championship for what we hope will be a must win game for Desmonds and towards the end of August, An Ríocht will again host the now annual International Dog Show that attracts a big crowd of canine enthusiasts to town.
After a quiet summer we have the return to action of the rugby, soccer, boxing and An Ríocht cross country competitions and of course the very busy basketball season begins along with other indoor sports in Castleisland Community Centre.
Kerry and Munster Clubs
The number of Kerry and Munster clubs and schools using Castleisland and district sporting facilities as a neutral location continues to grow benefiting many businesses in the town. The Christmas Basketball Blitz beckons as we head into the darker evenings.
Festival season in August kicks off with the Dan Paddy Andy in Lyreacrompane, followed by the Pattern Day in Knocknagoshel, and coming up in October we have an even bigger and better Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival followed by the annual November 1st. horse fair – a week-long celebration of all that Castleisland district was and is about and a big economic boost to the region.
Strength in Business Terms
In business terms July continued to be very strong in new car sales, with Castleisland now home to the largest number of car and commercial brands in Kerry.
Divanes are celebrating their 70th anniversary and Aherns celebrate 100 years in the business next year.
It is noteworthy that both are in expansion mode and retain their main dealerships in the face of an ever-changing industry. T Nolan and Sons are also expanding and will shortly be opening a premises in Raheen in Limerick. We congratulate all three businesses.
The early summer has been good for food retailers in all formats: supermarkets; discounters; convenience; forecourt; craft bakers and butchers– all complementing each other’s offerings and reaping the rewards of investments made in the last few years in upgrading their facilities.
The ease of access to the town is to their benefit in attracting custom from an ever-broadening catchment area.
Our Fashion Capital Status
Our ‘Fashion Capital’ status in clothes, jewellery, shoes, and eye wear has had a strong early summer – again, all complementing each-other and they do it so well in terms of range, quality and value – for women, children and men of all ages.
The short walking distances between outlets facilitates decision making for the discerning customer. Summer sales have kicked off in most outlets. Other gift, craft and discount outlets are also seeing good footfall and activity levels like all other street outlets.
The pharmacy / health and beauty sector is seeing no let up in demand for their services. In the agri/gardening/building providers sectors activity levels are high.
Farmers Getting it From all Sides
The marts and feed providers are seeing high volume – feed providers because of the weather causing fodder scarcities and the marts are dealing in higher volumes with derogation causing farmers to scale back.
All in all, the dairy farmers are getting it from all sides with milk price and volumes, weather and feed inputs and higher operating costs.
Castleisland needs thriving farm enterprises as its hinterland is largely farming based. The builders provider sector is seeing a slowdown in farm construction offset to some extent by a relatively strong private housing construction and refurbishment market and an expansion in the range of goods sold as it grapples with the farming reality while gardening equipment and materials had an excellent season.
The house and home sector, including furniture, flooring, bathroom, tiles, lighting, electrical and interior decorative materials experienced some weakness in the market in May and June but are now catching up with last year’s very high post Covid levels of activity as summer consumer confidence returns and inflation/interest rates wane.
Sales Igniting Customer Interest
Summer sales are operating to assist in igniting customer interest. The weakness in farming returns cannot be ignored when assessing performance in this area of discretionary spending.
All through this period the Tidy Towns team has been very busy working through the schools and on their regular Tuesday evening gatherings. The floral decorations and the tidiness of the street are to be commended.
In the strategic areas of town development, it is pleasing to report the completion of the River Walk with the reopening of the Church Street to An Ríocht / Crageens Bridge leg for walkers.
The woodcarvings are truly a work of art. Thanks goes to the municipal area engineering department, under the direction locally of Jimmy O’Leary, for their vision and to the executive. The recovery of unused properties continues with the Market House returning to its standout structure status.
The Barrack Gym and Personal Training facility has relocated to Lower Main Street into a very prominent on-street location.
Copper-fastening Town’s Future
Two projects of note will be delivered in the next few months on the street. The first is the resurfacing of Main Street and the second will be the upgrading of a stretch of footpath.
Kerry County Council Engineering Department. and the appointed contractors will be communicating with the public in due course as to how both will work.
In the next few weeks, Castleisland Chamber Alliance in conjunction with the Kerry County Council will coordinate the formation of a ‘Town Planning Team’ who, with the appointed consultants, will be responsible for liaising with all local stakeholders through the various processes including public consultation.
It is envisaged that the plan will be complete by March 2025. This is a very important process which has been awarded €110,000 to cover the cost of carrying it out.
Properly conducted it will copper-fasten the future of Castleisland Town for years to come by facilitating the drawdown of Town and Village/Urban Renewal money for key projects pin-pointed by the plan.
Remembering the late Betty O’Connell
Castleisland Chamber Alliance wishes to express its sympathy to the O’Connell family on the passing of Betty, the host at Kearney’s Bar since this month in 2015 and a great supporter of the work of the chamber. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dhílis.
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